This is a dramatic headline, but read the Reddit post. There’s an embedded video that appears to be taken soon after the fire went out, smoke still pouring out and what appears to be char marks on the floor.
Is this real? Seems like it. Hard to say for sure. But lithium-ion batteries can fail, and can explode, under the right circumstances.
One interesting nugget:
I went inside and was able to remove the computer to the porch using gloves (it was scalding hot). Below is a short video taken when I re-entered the house a few minutes after the explosion. After it cooled for an hour or so, I took it to the local Apple store in a rage. They understood the severity of the situation but said nothing could be done until it spent 24 hours in a fire-proof safe and that they’d call me with a plan/update.
Is there a fire-proof safe in every Apple Store? I remember reading about safes in Apple Stores when the gold Edition Apple Watch first came out. I wonder if this was a use case when they added a safe to the Apple Store designs.
Bottom line, I do see value in being careful with lithium-ion batteries. Recycle them. And do get them checked out if you notice bulging in your Mac.
The Reddit post was nothing interesting or special. User didn’t make a backup, move along.
I almost called it a waste of 3 minutes of my time, but a former Apple Store employee replied in the thread, and _that_ response is interesting. (tl;dr: it will cool in a safe, then be shipped straight to Cupertino for detailed analysis.)
As a former apple store employee, yes there are fire safes in every Genius Room, specifically for an issue such as this or if there is an incident during a repair. They were in place well before the Apple Watch Edition
As a former apple store employee, yes there are fire safes in every Genius Room, specifically for an issue such as this or if there is an incident during a repair. They were in place well before the Apple Watch Edition
Probably real. Why wouldn’t it be? Lithium ion batteries are dangerous. At the first sign of a problem, get it checked out.
This.
The “why Apple” may be more prosaic: people just don’t care about Dell computers. 🙂
it’s not just the Loop – Macrumors picked up on this too so this one little Reddit post is getting signal boosted something fierce.It’s kind of silly. Yes, this crap happens. Yes, too everyone. No, it’s not at all common.
Do Dell fan blogs post on things like this? It’s very odd to me that Mac sites pick up on and amplify things like this. It just furthers the “OMG Apple!!!” hysteria but I’d bet there are incidents like this for almost every PC vendor with sizable laptop sales. It’s a percentage thing; even if it’s a 1 in 4 million occurrence , if you have 40 million laptops out there…